Charlie and Lola

Charlie and Lola are fictional children created by the English writer and illustrator Lauren Child in 2000. They were introduced in a series of picture books and later adapted as animated television characters. Lola is an energetic, imaginative little girl; Charlie is a patient and kind older brother who is always willing to help his little sister Lola learn and grow.

The first book, I Will Never NOT EVER Eat a Tomato (US title, later printing with Greenaway Medal seal, 2000)

The first "Charlie and Lola" book was I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato, published by Orchard Books in 2000.[1] The U.S. edition was published in the same year by Candlewick Press, with the title: I Will Never NOT EVER Eat a Tomato. Charlie and Lola's parents, as well as their friends' parents, are often mentioned, but never seen.

For that first book in the series, Child won the 2000 Kate Greenaway Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book illustration by a British subject. For the 50th anniversary of the Medal (1955–2005) it was named one of the top ten winning works, selected by a 2007 panel to compose the ballot for a public election of the all-time favourite.[2]

Charlie is the imaginative and loyal older brother to Lola. He is 7 years old[3] and has short blonde hair, just like Lola. Charlie is often asked to look after Lola, and he sometimes has to think of creative ways to keep her busy.

Lola is an imaginative, quirky 5 year old[4] girl, the younger sister to Charlie; and the best friend to Lotta. She loves to play and is full of character. She always wears butterfly hair clips. She has black eyes and short blonde hair.

Marvin (In the TV Series, Charlie calls him 'Marv' for short) is Charlie's best friend. He has a younger brother named Morten and an older brother named Marty. Marvin also has a sausage dog called Sizzles and a pet mouse called Squeak. He is the same age as Charlie. He lives at level 3 in his flat like Charlie who also lives on level 3.

Soren Lorensen is Lola's imaginary friend and is always rendered as monochrome and translucent. When Lola and Soren Lorensen are playing, Soren Lorensen is rather detailed and has the look of a real person only grey and translucent. When someone interrupts them (such as Charlie), Soren Lorensen loses detail and he becomes more transparent. As soon as the person leaves, Soren Lorensen goes back to normal. He also doesn't speak often and hates mushrooms.

Marty Lowe: He is Marv's older brother. He does not throw anything away. Marty does not seem to like people in his bedroom. His voice is heard in the episode Look After Your Planet. He said "Get out of my room, now!" and "Who's been in my room?"

Mini Reader: She is a classmate and friends with the girls including Lola and Lotta and is very clever. She likes tap dancing, beads, horses, patterns, coloring and knows a lot about guinea pigs and has one named Fluffy. She is serious and doesn't smile as much as the rest of the characters. She has short brown hair with two green hair circles in it. She is usually seen with a bluish-green dress sweater dress, orange and pink socks and black shoes but, sometimes she is seen with a brown coat and black shoes. She has appeared on several episodes like "Look After Your Planet", "How Many More Minutes Are There Until Christmas" etc. She said she was going to be the "Wicked Witch of the West" in "What Can I Wear For Halloween" but she went as a girly rabbit instead. She had purple glasses with orange flowers on it on "I Really Absolutely Must Have Glasses" Sometimes she is seen with Evie.

Morten Lowe: He is Marv's younger brother, he is quite shy and quiet.

Arnold Wolf: He is Lola's neighbour. Arnold is only featured in some of the episodes, and in one he stops being friends with Lola, after not sharing his ice cream with Lola when she drops hers, but then Arnold and Lola are able to build their friendship back up when lets her and Charlie use his paddling pool.

Granny and Grandpa: Charlie and Lola's grandparents. Granny paints for a hobby, while it appears that Grandpa is good with ponies. Like Charlie and Lola's parents and other character's parents, they are referred to but are never seen.

Evie: A ruddy girl in Lola and Lotta's class who was new in the episode, "My Best, Best Bestest Friend" with red hair which she wears in pigtails.

Jack: Marv's cousin who Lola and Lotta thought was Marv's new best friend in the episode, "But Marv is Absolutely Charlie's Best Friend"

Marcie Zehybe: Lotta's older cousin.

Felicity: A girl who's first seen in "Look After Your Planet". Her hairclips are similar to Lola's.

Frog - Lola's springy frog that she keeps on her bed stand so much of the time. Apparently, this is also Soren Lorenson's favourite toy; he plays with when Lola's not around.

The Rocket - A class project of Charlie's making, the rocket is a toy space rocket that won Charlie a First Place prize in school; he beat Marv and that boy Harvy. Unfortunately, Lola in her curiosity had a bit of a mishap with it and broke the rocket some. But Charlie, notwithstanding he was really cross, was able to mend it like new.

Hyaenas - A pair of unkind hyaenas that were caught making fun of Ellie's nose once.

Daisy - Lola's rag doll, she is a blonde doll wearing a pink dress and a bow to match in its hair. She has blue buttons for eyes.

Molly the Rabbit - An anthropomorphic female stuffed rabbit who's all pink with a red bow on its head. She is one of Lola's stuffed animals.

Mr. Teddy - Charlie's former teddy bear when he was the same age as Lola, he is yellow with green buttons for eyes and a blue bow tie. He's now of Lola's.

The books have been adapted by Tiger Aspect into a cartoon series, using a collage style of animation which accurately captures the style of the original books. Directed by Kitty Taylor and Claudia Lloyd. 2D cel animation, paper cutout, fabric design, real textures, photomontage, and archive footage are all employed and subsequently animated in a software application called CelAction.[5] The cartoons are also notable for their use of children's voices, rather than adult voice actors, a technique pioneered by the Peanuts television specials.

The first series of 26 episodes (11 minutes each) was first broadcast on 7 November 2005. .[6] The second series of 26 episodes (again, 11 minutes each) started broadcasting on Cbeebies on 2 October 2006 (with the morning broadcast also being shown on BBC Two) a third series followed. In the television series, Charlie is seven and Lola is four, and goes to school (her teacher is called Mrs. Hansen). In episodes of both the first and second series, Charlie celebrates his birthday (in "It's a Secret..." and "This Is Actually My Party"), although this doesn't seem to affect his age in other episodes. The third series, a final 26-episode run, was broadcast in the UK and the US in the 2007-2008 television season. With two special episodes broadcast in 2006 and 2007, a total of 80 episodes were produced.

Charlie and Lola's Best Bestest Play was first performed at Polka Theatre on 26 April 2008 and has subsequently been performed at the venue again in 2010 and 2012. It will be staged for the first time at Glow, the events and exhibition space at Bluewater in Kent, by Watershed Productions over the Christmas period of 2013.[7]

Charlie and Lola's Best Bestest Play is based on the characters created by Lauren Child and adapted by Jonathan Lloyd, Artistic Director of Polka Theatre.

Each track includes spoken word extracts from the series. In many cases, these are manipulated to fit with the musical accompaniment.

"The Bestest in the Barn" was released as a single on 12 March 2007. It features Lola and Lotta teaching various animals on their farm how to sing, dance and play music. This is the only track on the album which does not appear in any episode. Lola and Lotta do however appear as farmers in "I Do Not Ever Never Want My Wobbly Tooth To Fall Out". They also have a tendency to imagine that animals are capable of developing impressive human skills, as seen in "We Do Promise Honestly We Can Look After Your Dog" and "I Will Not Ever Never Forget You Nibbles". "The Bestest in the Barn" now features on a playlist of CBeebies programme music played throughout CBeebies Land at the Alton Towers Resort.

The album is a collaboration between various composers and musicians who write and perform for the TV series. Much of the music is programmed but many tracks feature performances by musicians from London-based bands – Menlo Park, Polar Bear and Acoustic Ladyland.

Four of the tracks have been animated by Tiger Aspect Productions: "The Bestest in the Barn", "Sizzles", "Batcat" and "It's Snowing". "The Bestest in the Barn" video is encoded as an mpeg on the album CD, and all four videos are included as DVD extras on the series 2 DVD collection.